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Another Cardinal Sean Story

Another parable that further illustrates the demands of the Great Commandment which contains the whole Law and the prophets. The Japanese tell the story of a man who lived in a beautiful home on the top of a mountain. Each day he took a walk in his garden and looked out at the sea below. One day he spotted a tsunami on the horizon coming toward the shore and then he noticed a group of his neighbors having a picnic on the beach. The man was anxious to warn his neighbors, he shouted and waved his arms. But they were too far off, they could not hear nor see him. So the man set fire to his house. When the neighbors on the beach saw the smoke and flames some said let us climb the mountain to help our friend save his home. Others said: ‘That mountain is so high and we’re having such fun, you go.’ Well, the ones who climbed the mountain to save their neighbor’s home were themselves saved. Those who remained on the beach having fun perished when the tidal wave hit the shore.

The Gospel of Christ is about love, sacrifice, forgiveness, hope and salvation. The burning house on the top of the hill is the Cross, and it is the suffering of all those children who experienced abuse. Climbing the mountain, we are not doing God a favor, we are saving our souls.

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I was looking at an icon of Our Lady of the Gates of Dawn and thought I was looking at the icon of Our Lady of Siluva. I was wondering where Jesus was. So I did a bit of googling. They are two separate icons.

Our Lady of the Gates of Dawn tells the story of a beloved painting. In 1702 the city of Vilnius was attacked by the Swedes. At dawn, the heavy iron city gate fell on top of the invaders, killing four Sweedish soldiers. This rallied the Lithuanian army and they defended their city. Hence, devotion to the icon grew.

January: Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza
February: American Treasurers by Stephen Puleo
March: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
April: Life in a Jar by Jack Mayer
May: The Little Paris Book Shop by Nina George
June: The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin
July: The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
August: The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

I'm happy to realize that I've read five of these selections, already.

In my conversational Spanish class, we translate articles we read in Spanish. To be different, I decided to translate a recipe. To get an "A" for a grade, I decided to make the dish and bring it to class to eat.

The dish was Pez Amarillo. The translation is Yellow Fish. It didn't come out like the picture but it tasted good. The fish was supposed to be catfish. Well, the fish markets around here don't carry catfish. I thought tilapia would taste like it. Unfortunately, I shouldn't have gone with "taste," but rather texture. The picture shows a fish that looks like kabobs. The tilapia disintegrated into rice-looking tiny flakes.

Another problem was the measurements. Instead of teaspoon and tablespoon, the Spanish said "g." It couldn't mean gram; that's too much. The teacher said it meant, "grain." Grain! How could I separate one grain out of a powder of cumin?

Faith is a Lay Dominican with a dual apostolate of cyberministry and prison ministry. She blogs here about her "cloistered brothers," her thoughts, spirituality, prayer, and an occasional poem or two.
She also blogs at http://www.21stcenturydominican.com/ She also updates her chapter's blog, Our Lady of Mercy Chapter,http://sites.google.com/site/ourladyofmercychapter/
Lastly, but in no way, of lesser importance, Faith is the general editor of ELUMEN, the internet newsletter for Lay Dominicans in the Eastern Province of St. Joseph. http://www.3op.org/
To subscribe to ELUMEN, contact prouille_1216@comcast.net
May all I do be for the greater glory of God.